Civil Procedure Responding to the complaint 1.

Time permitted for a response - Rule 12 a- gives defendants 20 days from service to respond to a complaint, however court can grant extension if parties stipulate to it 2. Motions to dismiss A. Historical Antecedents - demurrer elevated importance of technicalities B. Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim - American Nurses Association v. Illinois (see case brief)- when are demurrers appropriate? - speaking demurrer- a demurrer that attempts to introduce material outside the pleadings- in courts today, a motion judgments is available to bring up these facts - Rule 12b and common law plea of abatement- rule 12 b allows 6 defenses by motion prior to service of a responsive pleadings 3. Other motions attacking pleadings - when a party included scandalous, impertinent, or irrelevant matters in the pleading then the remedy is a motion to strike - Corbell v. Norton- In a case where defendants were sued for mismanagement of moneys held in trust for Indian tribes, Plaintiffs filed an emergency notice to halt further destruction and damage to individual Indian trust records- Defendants sought to strike portions of the papers as immaterial under rule 12f, which the courts denied - 12 f states that immaterial matters consists of statements and averments bearing nonessential or important relationship to the claim for relief or the defenses being pled to rule these immaterial would be far from the truth 4. Answering the complaint A. Denials - If a defendant does not respond to an allegation, then it is automatically admitted, to avoid admission, many defendants add an all-inclusive paragraph in their answers denying each and every allegation unless otherwise admitted

- Federal Rules discourage general denials bc general denials are risky (if not a sufficient general denial then the courts may rule it to be an admission) - Zielinski v. Philadelphia piers, inc. (see case brief) - Improper denials include denial for lack of information, negative pregnant -cannot deny for an amount if the amount is a dollar less, conjunctive denial is when a plaintiff uses a phrase and the denial is based on never using that actual phrase - if a complaint is verified, then the answer cannot contain a general denial B. Affirmative Defenses - there are 19 affirmative defenses that must be raised specifically - definition: two types of pleadings: ones that admit the allegations of the complaint but suggest some other reason why there is no right of recovery (laymen s terms: the things that are said are true, but why should I be sued), and ones that concern allegations outside of the plaintiff s prima facie (at first view, evidence sufficient to prove a specific fact) case that the defendant cannot raise by a simple denial in the answer - main reason for affirmative defenses provide notice to the plaintiff that the defense exist and def intends to advance them - Ingraham v. U.S. (case brief) - Taylor v. United States- Same situation as Ingraham but instead, the court reversed decision. The section that was cited Fed Civ Pro 8c s 3333.2 is a limitation of damages and not the affirmative defense of statute of limitation- ???? C. The Reply - Civ Pro 7a limits pleadings as a complaint, answer to a complaint, answer to counterclaim, answer to cross claim, third-party complaint, answer to third party complaint, and sometimes a reply to the answer - Common law pleadings used to involve a lengthy back and forth system between plaintiff and defendant but civ pro 7a has streamlined the system - with an answer with counterclaims, a reply is at the discretion of the court D. Amendments - Civ Pro Rule 15

- Rule 15- provides maximum opportunities for each claim to be decided on its merits rather than one procedural technicalities- rule 15 allows the courts to amend pleadings to their discretion rather than the common law and code restriction that amendments could not change - Rule 15 also reflects that pleadings have a limited role of providing parties with notice of nature of pleader s claim or defense - Beeck v. Aquaslide n dive (case brief) - Moore v. Moore- parties may amend pleadins with leave of the court, to conform to issues raised by unexpected evidence- reread 627-629 - Worthington v. Wilson (case brief) E. Supplemental Pleadings - supplemental pleadings- only information that happened after the date of the original pleading be supplemented F. Provisions to deter frivolous pleadings - Surowitz v. Hilton Hotel Corp. Rule 23.1 requires that a person involved in a class action suit must sign a verification Rule 11- attempts to curb the abuse of federal pleading rules by putting affirmative duties on attorneys and by increasing possibilities of sanctions for failure to discharge them (it is the attorney s duty to act in good faith on behalf of their clients) Hadges v. Yonkers racing corp.

Joinder of Claims and Parties A. Joinder of Claims 1. Permissive Joinder of claims by plaintiff a. Party may join claims b. MK v. Tenetc. Sporn v. Hudson transit lines- attempt to join 5 causes of action which would mean different trial with different witnesses d. B. Addition of Claims by defendant\ 1. Counterclaims a. Claims that defendant can use to counter-sue the plaintiff if the cause of action is related or comes out of the plaintiff s claim

b. United States v. Heyward-Robinson Co,- claims in each instance were very closely related (compulsory claims)c. Failure to plead a counterclaim usually means that it cannot be raised in a subsequent suit in federal court 2. Cross-Claims a. Civ Procedure 13 g and h- Crossclaims against a coparty are permissible if the claim arises out of the same transaction or occurrence or if the claim relates to any property that is the subject matter of the action b. Lasa per L industria del marmot societa per azioni v. Alexanderc. In order for a valid 13 h claim- there has to be valid grounds on a 13a, b, or g claim d. C. Identifying parties who may sue and be sued a. Rule 17 b. Ellis Canning co. v. International Harvester Co. c. Purpose of requiring a real party interest to prosecute is so that to avoid prejudice and to prevent the possibility of duplicate suits d. Capacity and Standing also are relevant in determining who to sue i. Capacity refers to the ability of an individual or a corporation to enforce rights or to be sued by others- especially for cases of minors and mentally incompetent ii. Standing- ensures that the parties before the court have a bona fide dispute and will argue legal claims at issue D. Claims involving Multiple parties 1. Permissive Joinder of parties a. Historical limitations on permissive joinder of parties i. Joinder of parties for plaintiffs must have common interest in subject matter of the action and the relief demanded ii. Ryder v. Jefferson Hotel b. Permissive Joinder under Federal Rule of Civ Pro 20 2. Mandatory Joinder of Persons a. The traditional concept of indispensible parties i. Bank of CA Nat. Ass n v. Superior Court- certain parties are necessary and indispensible part so much so that the court cannot proceed without themmandatory joinder b. Required Joinder of a persons under fed rule 19 i. E. Impleader 1. Historical Use of Impleader2. Third-party practice under rule 14a. Jeub v. B/G foods, inc.

DISCOVERY Rule 26o parties must provide to the other parties all names that may have discoverable information, copy of information that needs to be used in its claims, computation of damages that are sought, any insurance records o exempt from initial disclosure-action for review on an administrative record, petition for habeas corpus, action brought without an atty , motion to quash, action to recover benefits, action to collect student loans, action to enforce arbitration, proceeding ancillary to procedding in another court